[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] 432 activity night

[Paul N1BUG FN55mf]

Hi Dave,

I am really sorry to read about your generator issue, apparently 
lighting induced! You've certainly had more than your share of technical 
challenges lately. It sounds like this generator thing is going from bad 
to worse! Good luck getting that sorted out. We need you back for 
Tuesday nights and hopefully Wednesday too!

Most of my technical difficulties in recent times have been self 
induced. Earlier this week I figured out a problem with my modified LNBs 
for 10 GHz EME reception experiments, and then got automatic doppler 
tracking working with my simple SDR and preferred software. Last night I 
checked this out and it was working great. I had perfect Q65 decodes of 
the DL0SHF beacon every time, and didn't have to retune at all. I did 
have to run outside every five minutes to move the dish but that's 
another story.

Earlier in the week when I set up a connected pair of virtual COM ports 
for the doppler tracking, I didn't have the control box for the new 
rotator on one of the towers powered up, causing Windows to not realize 
something would be wanting to use COM5. Not realizing this, I used COM5 
and COM6 for the virtual pair. Naturally I discovered my error when I 
turned on that control box and started getting error messages. A smart 
person would have just left this alone until after the upcoming EME 
contest weekend which I have been working hard to prepare for, but not 
me. I had to try to fix it at 0100 local time last night. That initiated 
a three hour battle to get it working again, only to eventually discover 
that the problem was as simple as forgetting to check "activate" after 
configuring the new CAT port in the SDR software!

I am happy to report everything is working again and I am all set for 
the wee hours Friday night, having somewhat shifted my bizarre sleep 
schedule to better accommodate this activity.

73,
Paul N1BUG
FN55mf



On 9/15/22 07:55, David Olean wrote:
> Hi Paul,
> 
> Don't feel bad.  I always consider myself lucky if I make it down stairs 
> for breakfast.  I missed 432 night too due to technical difficulties.  I 
> spent the day monkeying with the generator and got nowhere. It was made 
> by CMD near Bangor and they do not return my calls.  The documentation 
> on the machine is not complete, and, of course, the missing stuff is all 
> the speed control information where the problem is! I am at the point of 
> dis assembling it and tracing wires!!
> 
> 
> Dave K1WHS
> 
> On 9/15/2022 7:13 AM, Paul N1BUG FN55mf wrote:
>> I blew it!! For some reason I was thinking this started at the same 
>> hour as Tuesday night 222 activity. After listening for half an hour 
>> and hearing nothing, I went away. What a bone-headed move on my part!
>>
>> As a general rule this is going to be even harder for me to show up 
>> for than 222, as it's well into my normal sleep period.
>>
>> 73,
>> Paul N1BUG
>> FN55mf